Last month’s news that Elysian Brewing in Seattle was selling out to Anheuser-Busch InBev sent ripples through American craft brewing like no other acquisition before it.

Here was a brewery that stands as a bedrock of the movement, whose guiding light on the brewing side literally wrote the book on how to start an independent craft brewery, that had just released a collaboration beer with an indie rock label with the tag line “corporate beer still sucks,” giving in to the supposed forces of darkness.

“I would say it was quite a surprise from a brewery that has been in business the past two decades,” said Wallace, CEO of Left Hand Brewing in Longmont. “We look at them as contemporaries. I am shocked (AB) was able to get somebody like that.”

Kim Collins, the new head brewer at Barrels and Bottles (provided by Collins).

Kim Collins got a toehold in professional brewing with an apprenticeship – a fancy way of saying she spent three months getting up when it was still dark to clean equipment and pitch in wherever needed without drawing a paycheck.

That experience at Tommyknocker Brewery in Idaho Springs led to paid gigs, first at Boulder Beer Company, then Epic Brewing in Denver, and finally as head brewer at Barrels and Bottles in Golden. She started this week at the seven-month-old brewpub.

What to get the beer aficionado or wanna-be on your Christmas list, besides a spare liver?

As I have for several years, instead of Santa I turn to Chris Black, proprietor of Falling Rock Tap House in LoDo, dispenser of fine ales and lagers since 1997, to gather holiday beers. He knows. Oh, he knows.

This year, we decided to put the six-packs in three categories: newbies, who think they might want get away from watered-down malt and hops to “real” beers; hearty drinkers, those suds veterans who know what they like and lots of it, and the adventurous who think outside the borders of the nation’s greatest craft-beer producer.

All these beers are packaged and available in most area retail outlets. Warning label: Most are high in alcohol (6 percent and above).

NEWBIES

Snow Day, New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins — Born in a blizzard in 2003, it’s a hoppy, chocolaty winter hearty.

Fort Collins-based saison specialists Funkwerks was Colorado’s biggest winner at the Great American Beer Festival competition this weekend, taking the title of small brewing company and small brewing company brewer of the year.

Founded in 2009 by Brad Lincoln and Gordon Schuck, Funkwerks also took home two gold medals – for its Deceit in the Belgian-style strong specialty ale category and for its Saison in the French and Belgian-style saison category. (Another Colorado brewery, Aspen Brewing Co., won silver in the same saison category).

Breweries that produce between one and 15,000 barrels per year are eligible for the small brewery category. The winners are determined based on the results of the GABF competitive beer judging; the first eight entries on the registration form count toward Brewery of the Year points, and breweries are awarded points based on number and types of medals won. Read the full criteria here.

The floor plan for the largest lineup in the Great American Beer Festival’s 31 year history was released today, and three Colorado breweries will take higher profiles than last year by occupying enviable “endcap” booths.

Left Hand Brewing out of Longmont, Denver-based Breckenridge Brewery and Tommyknocker Brewery in Idaho Springs all are featured brewery sponsors and will occupy 10-foot-by-10 foot stations in the hall.

A total of 11 Colorado breweries will serve beers at endcap booths, which means more exposure and more beers on tap. The state’s two largest craft brewers by volume – New Belgium Brewing and Oskar Blues – claimed the larger 20-foot-by-10-foot endcaps.

Our new iPad app serves as a guide to metro Denver’s bountiful breweries, beer bars and bottle shops, the holy trinity of craft beer enjoyment for followers and fans. Download the app for iPad .
Next time you head for a beer in Boulder, don’t forget your friend, Beers of Boulder and Boulder County, an iPad app from the Daily Camera. Download the app for iPad .

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In Colorado, our pint glasses overflow with excellent beer. New breweries, new batches, festivals every other week. How lucky are we? First Drafts is The Denver Post's beer blog aimed at helping you keep tabs on the state's ever-expanding craft beer culture. We offer a mash of news, event coverage, homegrown stories, tasting notes and tips to help you imbibe. Expert drinker or homebrewer? Let us know what you're loving about Colorado's beer scene. Not sure exactly what a firkin is? No worries, let us be your guide. Go ahead. Belly up and drink it in!